Do you hate the internet?

That’s a good way to describe the approach adopted by the legislation introduced today, which specifies a step-by-step method for making Web sites suspected of infringing copyrights or trademarks vanish from the Internet. It’s called the Protect IP Act.

The U.S. Department of Justice would receive the power to seek a court order against an allegedly infringing Web site, and then serve that order on search engines, certain Domain Name System providers, and Internet advertising firms–which would in turn be required to “expeditiously” make the target Web site invisible.

It’s basically the internet equivalent of the death penalty. Things become extra horrible when you see the sponsor list:

Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.)

Orrin Hatch (R-Utah)

Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa)

Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.)

Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.)

Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.)

Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.)

Herb Kohl (D-Wis.)

Chris Coons (D-Del.)

Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.)

For those keeping score at home, That’s seven out of ten who are Democrats. The internet is going to turn into a very, very bad place in the United States if these bills come to pass.